Thuli Madonsela: State Capture 'Perverts' Our Democracy

The former public protector and former finance minister Pravin Gordhan teamed up to talk about the state of SA.

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has lashed out at state capture and corruption, saying it is such issues that "pervert" democracy.

Madonsela was speaking at the Democracy Defenders Dialogue at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg on Monday evening.

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan also delivered the closing remarks at the event.

Here's what Madonsela and Gordhan said:

1. Madonsela said activists have to make it easy for people to understand how state capture perverts democracy, especially in terms of social justice.
"Someone should make sure the Gupta leaks are accessible to the person on the street... Once you delete people from democracy, democracy falls apart."

2. Giving advice to prospective public servants, Madonsela urged to "serve the best where you can".
"The majority of public servants are decent human beings who serve beyond the call of duty. If you find something that has done wrong, you have to be strategic. You have to look at who is involved. Don't go to the media," she said.

3. She urged ordinary citizens to confront corruption.
"What I would like to see more is ordinary people writing to parliament and the president in terms of the access to information act... Let's stop the divide and rule."

4. Gordhan also spoke of a citizen-focused movement against state capture. He said citizens need to be better informed of what is going on.
"At the end of the day, we can be activists, leaders, catalysts for the revitalization of democracy, but it is the masses that make history," he said.

5. He also hit out at Black First Land First members.
"We have fake narratives, fake twitter accounts... but now we have stormtroopers of the corrupt. Hired guns, it may not be the physical gun, but the word of mouth."